About Ham Radio

I received my Amateur Radio license in March 1995.  I upgraded to a General Class license in March 2007.  I operate on HF, VHF, and UHF from MY CAR and on VHF from MY BICYCLE.  Despite the small size of my VHF/UHF radios, they have a very respectable range with the use of repeaters.  Repeaters receive signals from distant or weak stations, amplify them, then retransmit their signal for greater range.  The principle of repeaters allows me to talk to stations over 100 miles away on a little handheld transceiver (HT).  The HF "multi-multi" radio in my car provides the ability to communicate worldwide through "sky waves" enabled by the atmosphere on lower frequencies.  While this may seem boring to most drivers, it really helps my 500 mile weekly commutes pass by.  My most distant contact to date was from SE Virginia to Serbia (nearly 5000 miles)  using my mobile station set to 100 watts SSB.  My contact from the Delaware Bay to Hawaii was just as far and was made while parked on the deck of a ferry crossing the Delaware Bay.  LEARN MORE ABOUT HAM RADIO HERE.  You can also check out THIS FAQ.

Here are a few Amateur Radio links (ALL INTERNET):

Ham Radio Outlet - Probably the nation's largest Amateur Radio dealer.

Yaesu USA - One of the leading Amateur Radio makers (my radios are by Yaesu).

Icom America - Another leading manufacturer. Lots of great products.

ARRL - Mentioned above. Amateur Radio's voice in the political arena.

Bicycle Mobile Hams of America - Combine cycling with Amateur Radio.

QRZ - The Internet's most popular Ham Radio database. Features callsign lookup, ham bio's (see mine), and links to individual sites.

W5YI is an outstanding source of information for those interested in Amateur Radio.

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